Vintage Surf meet 2019 coming soon !

Vintage Surf meet 2019 coming soon !
Free to take part
We buy interesting old boards 60s/70s/early 80s in good condition. Email alasdairlindsay75@gmail.com . Also wanted - Surfing UK , British Surfer and Surf Insight magazines .
Above photo - copyright Rennie Ellis photographer archive

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Atlantic surfboards St Ives

Living near to St Ives you'd think I would stumble on the odd Atlantic every so often, but no they remain very elusive. Atlantic was a smaller venture than say Bilbo but it still was producing boards for around ten years so where are they all ? This board was sent in by Gavin, he bought it ten years ago from a guy who had it in his garden and thought it was from Hawaii ! She's an old girl, stringerless 8ft x 22 'shortboard' from '67 /'68 ,with a very rolled hull. Gavin's going to put her through a well deserved restoration.





The early Cornish surf scene was strong in St Ives; Britain's first proper surf shop the Surfers Store was opened by Keith Slocombe in 1963. James and Peter-George Williams set up Williams surfboards around this time in Lelant with help from Keith and sold boards through his store.
In around 1965 Charles Williams as head shaper started Atlantic from a cottage in St Ives, with Colin Pryor making blanks from refrigeration foam and Dave Griffin as glasser /sander. Vietnam draft dodging Aussies Neil Redding and Chris Cannings brought experience to the factory where they worked part time. In 1968 the factory was burnt down but a government grant alloweed them to rebuild a state of the art factory which produced top boards for another seven years. Charles Williams was a strong competitive surfer, runner up three times in the British title and a member of the British team through the 60s.



Ad from Graham's British surfer from around 1970.












Heres a really nice singlefin with s deck from around 1970 with rasberry ripple resin tint and bubbly logo, a time capsule from the psychadelic era. Shaped by Kid Speed ,this one is from the Gul collection, photos by Alex . If anyone else has an Atlantic please send it in .Thanks to Gavin, Alex, Graham and Gul for sharing the elusive Atlantics.





































Charles Williams











5 comments:

  1. hi
    I have one just listed it on ebay lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi, my grandmother is trying to sell a surfboard that was my uncles.
    it is from atlantic surfboards st.ives in the 1970s.
    it is 6'2" and it has had a few repairs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ps if you could get back to me via email that'd be great.
    lucy.uren@hotmail.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi, love this site- who runs it- is there a contact i can reach?
    Hugo
    hugochadd@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Charles williams . was the first surf shop owner in St. Ives . cornwall .. Tim Symons ... Was British champion 1970....

    ReplyDelete